The Day You Left
by Obsession and Insanity
Summary: The holy fire only has seconds before it dies, so I tense my wings ready to take flight and flee...but it was Castiel who was faster.


**Hello this is Obsession and here is the beginning of a Fanfic about Gabriel & Castiel.**

**This takes place during Season 5 Episode 8 "Changing Channels."**

**Pairing: Gabriel x Castiel (Brotherly)**

**Disclaimer: Supernatural © Eric Kripke**

* * *

"All right you sonofabitch! Uncle! We'll do it!

"Should I honk?"

Hearing Dean's sweet words of surrender I appear behind Michael's vessel a smirk of triumph growing on my face. I then took several steps towards the car that was formerly Sam Winchester and acted as if I was checking out his tires. "Wow. Sam, get a load of the rims on you."

"Eat me."

Walking away from the Winchesters I give a low whistle and chuckle. Stopping in the middle of the gravel road I turn towards them. "Okay, boys. Ready to go quietly?"

"Wo-wo-woah, not so fast." Dean gestures behind him to Impala Sam demanding, " Nobody's goin' anywhere until Sam has opposable thumbs. "

I scrunch up my face as I say, "What's the difference? Satan's gonna ride his ass one way or another." Dean focused on me then, glaring. And Whew-Boy! If looks could kill I'd be dead a thousand times over! I roll my eyes thinking _, No matter what, they were going to be vessels to Michael and Lucifer one way or another. Why not just leave Sam a car? Then he could actually be useful._

"Fine." I snap my fingers, and out of the Impala emerges an unhappy gorilla named Sam. Dean looks behind him and assesses his brother looking for any damage. "Happy?" A door slams in answer.

Dean turns back to me and asks, "Tell me one thing." His finger waved accusingly at me. "Why didn't the stake kill you?"

I play my part as an almighty Trickster God, and give him a look as if asking 'Really?'. Smiling slightly I reply impishly, "I _am_ the Trickster."

Then I heard it. The sharp sound of metal sliding over metal.

"But maybe you're not." In confusion I look over just in time to see Sam Winchester throw a lighter at my feet. There is a _Whoosh _as flames erupts from the gravel around me. With my heart hammering I turn to see if the circle was complete. _Damn!_ _They got me! _Schooling my expression I turn to face them with a look that said, 'Do you really think a circle flames on the ground can stop me?' With my attention back to them Dean says, "Maybe you've always been an angel."

My face reflexively becomes incredulous. "A _what_? Did someone slip a mickey in your power shake, kid? "

Dean nods his head a nasty smile forming for just a second, but disappearing just as fast. " I'll tell you what. You just jump out of that holy fire, and we'll call it our mistake."

I laugh as if it's a joke, the thought of trying to convince them I was a Trickster _without _jumping over the holy fire crossed my mind. But only for a second. The look in their eyes told me there was going to be no negotiations here, so I abruptly stop laughing. My face unusually serious.

I release my control over reality and it morphs back into the abandoned warehouse. Clapping in defeat I ask with a tired voice, "Well played, boys. Well played." Silence. "Where'd you get the holy oil?"

Sam shifted uncomfortably as Dean said; "You could say we pulled it outta Sam's ass." He then glares at his elder brother.

"Where'd I screw up?"

"You didn't." Lucifer's vessel turned back to me. "Nobody gets the jump on Cas like you did."

Dean interjected. "But mostly the way you talked about Armageddon."

I cock my head to the side with one eyebrow raised. "Meaning?"

"Well, call it personal experience, but nobody gets that angry unless they're talkin' about their own family."

I glance away from Dean, only to have the other Winchester ask punitively after being turned into a car. "So which one are you? Grumpy, Sneezy, or _Douchey_?"

Glancing at him I reply steadily, "Gabriel, okay?" Bitterly I smile at the name. "They call me Gabriel."

Disbelief creeps onto his face. "Gabriel. The Archangel?"

With the expression of a guiltless 'Oops! My hands' been caught in the cookie jar' I confirm it. "Guilty."

"How does a Archangel become a Trickster?"

"My own private witness protection." Dean Winchester makes a wordless, 'What does that mean?' So I talked slowly and elaborated. "I skipped out of heaven. Had a face transplant. Carved out my own little corner of the world," Then pointing accusingly at them to add emphasis, "'Til you two screwed it all up."

"And what did Daddy say when you went off to join the pagans?" _Great_. _Count on Dean Winchester to make your day go from worse ... to worse._

"Daddy doesn't say anything about anything." I reply jadedly. _Daddy didn't do anything._

The gorilla then broke off my train of thought, confusion written plainly on his Neanderthal-like face. "What happened? Why'd you ditch?"

Before I could snap back an answer the Dick-for-Brains Winchester spoke up," Well do you blame him? I mean his brothers are heavy-weight douche-nozzles."

I turn on him my voice dangerously low. "Shut your cake-hole... You don't know anything about my family. I _loved_ my father, and my brothers. _Loved them_! But watching them turn on each other? Tear at each other's throats out?! I couldn't bear it!" A burning sensation began to build in the back of my throat as I held back angry and frustrated tears. "Okay? So I left." Smiling sullenly I then say, "And it's happening all over again."

"Then help us stop it."Sam says with misplaced conviction. Inside I laugh cynically. _If only it could be stopped._

"It can't be stopped." I say as if stating an obvious fact.

Dean grounds out his words angrily. "You want to see the end of the world?"

"I want this to be _over_! I have to sit back and watch my brothers kill each other, thanks to you! Heaven, Hell, I don't care wins! I just want it to be over!"

"It doesn't have to be like that! There has to be some kind of way to-to pull the plug!"

I laugh. _Poor Sammy. He thinks there's some way to fix everything. That out there, there are some fairy godparents he can find and wish everything back to normal. Fix all his God-damned mistakes.(1) _"Ha-ha-ha-ohhhhh, you do _not_ know my family! What you guys call the apocalypse, I used to call Sunday dinner! That's why there is no stopping this. Because this isn't a about a war, it's about to brothers who loved each other, and _betrayed_ each other! You think you'd be able to relate!"

Dean looks over at his younger brother. Brows furrowed he asked, "What're you talking about?"

I look at him then his brother. _You've got to be kidding me. _Whistling at their chronic stupidity I say, "You sorry sonsofbitches. Why do you think you two are the vessels? Think about it! Michael... the big brother, loyal to an absent father. And Lucifer...the little brother, rebellious of Daddy's plan. You two were born to this, boys. It's your destiny! It was _always _you! As it is in Heaven," I raised my hands to the heavens, and then let them fall towards Dean and Sam. "So it must be on Earth." My hands then fell to completely to my sides . " One brother has to kill the other."

Dean, one of the ever clueless Winchesters, said, "So what the hell are you saying?"

"Why do think I've always taken an interest in you?" I shook my head in disgust. "Because from the moment Dad flipped on the lights around here, we knew it was all going to end with you. Always."

The two shared a glance before Dean answered obstinately. "No. That's not going to happen."

"Sorry. But it is." I see Dean swallow hard his face resigned, but I can see a spark of determination in his eyes. And I feel pity and sympathy welling at the bottom of my stomach. I remember the pain of seeing my brothers suffer. Fruitlessly trying to stop their bickering and fighting.

The next time I speak my voice is notably softer. "Guys. I wish this were a TV show. Easy answers, endings wrapped up in a bow." I see Sam take in a breathe shakily. "But this is real. And it's going to end bloody for all of us. That's just how its gotta be."The Winchesters froze, their minds a whirl with the words I've said.

For several minutes I waited patiently for them to make the first move. Hell, I could have waited here for years, but when you're surrounded by a ring of holy fire, you tend to get a little bit...nervous.

"So, boys, now what? Stare at each other for the rest of eternity?"

Dean thinks for a few seconds, but quickly finds what he's going to say next." Well first of all you're gonna bring Cas back from wherever you stashed him." He sweeps his arm over the ground to his right.

Even though I had already made up my mind to bring back Castiel, I reply sarcastically. "Oh am I?"

Heatedly Dean says, "Yeah. Or we're going to _dunk_ you in some holy oil, and deep-fry ourselves an archangel."

_Well I guess that gives me a little more incentive doesn't it. _For a moment a rogue thought flits across my mind, _How would I taste deep-fat fried?_ I snap my fingers once more, dragging him out of an pocket-dimension. A little ways off a bloodied and disgruntles Castiel appears. His glare trained solely on me.

At Castiel's appearance Dean looks over his shoulder and asks, "Cas, you okay?" I lower my arm.

Without batting an eyelash Castiel continues glaring at me and says breathlessly, "I'm fine. Hello Gabriel."

After seeing my former charge and little brother, I could feel the turmoil building up within me. Regret, sadness, grief, anger, self-loathing, shame . All of them struggling to reach the surface. So I did the only thing I could think of to hid it. I smiled.

"Hey bro. How's the search for Daddy going. Let me guess: awful." At those words Castiel sucked in an angry breath. I made an insincere face of 'Sorry.' Then looked away.

I could still feel Castiel's glare when Dean said, " Okay we're out of here. Come on Sam." The trio slowly begin to walk away towards the warehouse exit.

"Uh, okay. Eh- guys! So-so what? Huh? You just gonna, gonna leave me here forever?" I motion at the flames around me.

Dean twists slightly toward me and says firmly and surprisingly, "No. We're not. We don't screw with people the way you do. And for the record this isn't about some prize fight between your brothers, or about some destiny that can't be stopped. This is about you being too afraid to stand up to your family."

It's getting harder to keep control of my emotions, because he's right. I am afraid. Afraid to see them fight anymore. So I stare and only stare, because if I talk I knew I'd fall apart.

The elder Winchester looked behind him at the fire alarm, and with his elbow he delivered a swift blow to the glass encasing it. He then reaches for the latch, pulling downwards.

As the latch hits home a shrill alarm penetrates the air. I look skyward to the ceiling, just before the sprinkler system kicks in. The drops fall in thick, cool globules. Each of them hammering my face relentlessly. The droplets also fall upon the holy oil, smothering the flames that still fought and hissed stubbornly.

It's strangely calming with the rain. Hypnotizing. But I break my reverie to look at Dean, and stared into his eyes as he said, "Don't say I didn't do anything for you."

Dean breaks the eye contact first, exiting the warehouse, quickly followed by Sam. I glance at the last of Team Free-Will , Castiel, expecting him to leave me without hesitation. But no. The angel of Thursday does something unexpected.

Castiel quickly strides over to my circle of holy fire, which is weakening drastically, and stares into my eyes. His gaze unwavering and stoic. Betraying nothing of what he is about to do. I begin to panic. Ideas of what he might do and say crowded out any rational thoughts. _He might just want to talk,_ I thought hopefully, but I crushed it promptly. _No. He has an angel blade, he could kill me in retaliation for what I did for him ._ A stab of regret and shame. Then inspiration hits me. _I need to run. Again._

The holy fire only has seconds before it dies, so I tense my wings ready to take flight and flee...but it was Castiel who was faster.

As soon as the flames died out Castiel jumped, two fingers outspread. My eyes widened, then rolled into my head as Castiel's fingers made contact with my forehead.

Darkness greeted me in a numbing embrace, but it didn't last long. Soon enough I was assailed by the things that I fear the most.

My memories.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed!**

**Please review and give me a critique, so I know what I need to work on. Also if I've made any blatant mistakes please point them out.**

**(1) This is a Fairy Oddparents reference. Timmy Turner usually has to unwish a wish he makes at the beginning of pretty much **_**every**_** episode. And since this is "Changing Channels" I really wanted to have at least one TV reference in it. Maybe I'll edit more into the story.**


End file.
